Incense Making — Part Two

Powdering Incense Materials

The
picture above is a machine used by Japanese incense companies to
powder ingredients. It pulverizes the materials instead of
grinding them in an electric powder mill. This keeps the material
from being overheated and losing aromatic integrity. This is very
important because materials like Sandalwood will lose some ranges
of aroma entirely, as well as generally weakening the overall
aroma.

There are
a couple of methods you can use at home that work well. One is
the Mexican culinary Molcajete (shown below)

Another way is using a hand crank coffee mill like the one shown below.

Sometimes
you can find ingredients already powdered. Ingredients like
Clove, Cassia, (Cinnamon) Spikenard, etc. can be obtained from
Spice and Ayurvedic herb suppliers. Cassia is usually called
"Vietnamese Cinnamon" and you should look for one with
4% oil content or better. Some Baieido incense retailers stock
some of these ingredients.